Indian English, after North American and British the most widely spoke

Hi Asad , "the most widely spoken of the many global varieties of English," together with after North American and British, modifies Indian English.
Indian English is the third most spoken variety of English in the world.

I think that option A needs a comma after English and before is.

We have
Indian English, after North American and British the most widely spoken of the many global varieties of English. is evolving into one of the world's distinctive tongues.

Put the rules aside for a moment, because this construction is unusual.
Go by meaning. What should that "spoken" phrase modify? Does it do so?

What does the sentence mean?
The subject is clearly Indian English.
We could put the "after" phrase in the sentence this way:
Indian English, the most widely spoken of the many global varieties of English after North American and British [varieties or "English"], is evolving into one of the world's most distinctive tongues.

The author wants to emphasize that Indian English is the third most spoken variety of English; (s)he does so by listing the two more commonly spoken varieties first with a prepositional phrase. In other words, (s)he moves that phrase to the beginning or "front" of the sentence.

Spoken is a past participle (a verbED).
Past participles modify an immediately preceding noun or the main noun of a prepositional phrase.
(verbEd words, too, like other noun modifiers, can "reach over" a prepositional phrase to get to the noun they modify.)

After North American and British is a prepositional phrase.
After is followed only by nouns (e.g. no clause). It's a preposition.
After in this case means immediately following something in an order [of frequency]. See #4, here.

Finally, the reference to "North American and British" implies "North American and British [varieties of English or English]."

after North American and British tells us that Indian English ranks third in something
the many global varieties of English gives us some information about that something
most widely spoken, qualified by the after phrase, refers to Indian English.
That is, Indian English is the third most widely spoken variety of English among many global varieties of English. The most and second most widely spoken varieties of English are North American and British.

Hope that helps.

IMO A: the most widely spoken of the many global varieties of English is
option A is correct over D; d usage of being is not sure of what is it really modifiying north american or birtish or indian english option D is wrong imo.

I did’n get why A is correct.
I can’t catch the meaning with choice A.
Can someone why A and not C or D ?

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LidiiaShchichko Another way to look at C and D is that they both imply that the last part ("evolving . . . "), logically follows from the previous part. If I said "Being mayor, I am able to park wherever I like," it implies that my freedom to park is a result of my being mayor. However, it's not clear that Indian English is evolving into one of the world's most distinctive tongues because it is the most widely spoken.

For C, hiranmay has a good point. Without a comma, -ing modifiers are usually noun modifiers, so "evolving" would need to modify an adjoining noun or noun phrase--most likely "varieties of English." It seems quite likely, however, that the author intended a comma there, since even A is missing a crucial comma (between "English" and "is").

Still, even if we had a comma, it would appear that "evolving" followed logically from the earlier statement. Answer choice A turns the part about the wide usage into an aside and therefore does not make it the cause of what follows. This makes the meaning much clearer.

A quick doubt. A is definitely correct, but shouldn't have there been a comma after "and british"?

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Hi MonikaCrackVerbal
According to the highlighted part, the correct sentence (correct choice) should be the quoted part below.

Here is the perfect rules for using modifier:
1/ _____, modifier, _____ ---->ok
2/ _____ modifier _____ ---> ok
3/ _____, modifier _____ ---> NOT ok
4/ _____ modifier, _____ ---> NOT ok
NOTE: We can't have a COMMA on only one side of a modifier UNLESS the modifier begins or ends the sentence!
Now, if we take out modifier (after North American and British) with two side's COMMA, we have the following..

^^ This sentence resembles rules number 4/
Again,
If we take out modifier (the most widely spoken of the many global varieties of English) with two side's COMMA, we have the following..

^^ This sentence resembles rules number 3/
Also, could you help me to figure out what the most widely spoken of the many global varieties of English modifies in this sentence?

Hi generis
What does the "the most widely spoken of the many global varieties of English" modify in this sentence?
Thanks__

Hi MonikaCrackVerbal
Welcome to the GMATClub!
If we assume that there is a COMMA between British and being, how being modifies only British?
Thanks__

You are missing that a variety of English that is widely spoken is not necessarily a distinctive (clearly different from others) tongue. It could be widely spoken and at the same time similar to other varieties. Thus, by evolving, that variety, which is already widely spoken, could become distinct (or different) from the others.

Regarding "two consecutive modifiers," actually you have one modifier. This modifier, "after North American and British, the most widely spoken of the many global varieties of English," modifies "Indian English."

Notice, you could reverse the phrases, and the modifier would still work as "the most widely spoken of the many global varieties of English after North American and British."

it really doesn't matter whether you put a comma before 'and' or not here, but if in a list there are clauses, a comma should be placed before 'and'; however 'and part' in a list of clauses must have at least 5 words.

THANKS = KUDOS

I understand the reasons why A is right, but isnt it important to place comma after (British) to get the real meaning out of the sentence?

Actually, they are talking about the COMMA after "British" not "English".
Thanks__

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Ah, I see . . . Sorry about that.

No, we do NOT want a comma after "British"! It's important for the meaning of the modifier that it remain all in one piece. The two parts don't make much sense independently.

generis,
Better if you put a COMMA in the underlined part, too.
Thanks__

The highlighted part is the whole point for asking the questions. How do someone will be convinced that [varieties] is implied in this case? The term by "North American and British" does not mean that they're talking about [varieties of English] ; they may talk about "north American people" and "the people of Britain".
One another important thing:
"after North American and British [varieties of English]" and "the most widely spoken of the many global varieties of English" are two different modifiers. So far I know that 2 consecutive modifiers CAN'T modify one single things (Indian English) at a time.
I need your opinion generis .
Thanks__

Answer: A

To begin with, there is a punctuation error in the question. There needs to be a comma after British. Assuming there is one, will continue with the explanation.

The phrase: “after North American and British” modifies the noun phrase Indian English. The focus is still on Indian English which is in the singular form and the subject for the following phrases and clauses.

A – This option has the correct placement of the auxiliary verb “is” after the comma to take the sentence to a logical conclusion as per the intended meaning.
B. The Pronoun "it" is redundant because the noun it is replacing is “Indian English” – the subject ,and there is no new clause that begins after that requires a pronoun to replace the main subject.
C. The auxiliary verb “is” is missing between English and evolving and hence “evolving” modifies English, thereby changing the intended meaning of the sentence.
D. The cursed word “being “used inappropriately in this sentence. “Being” modifies British in this option. The GMAT has a tendency to want to throw “being” at inopportune moments especially as an answer option to mislead.
E. The pronoun “it” could refer to Indian or British English and as it brings in ambiguity, it (pun intended) is incorrect.

MonikaCrackVerbal

Indian English, after North American and British (English), the most widely spoken of the many global varieties of English, is evolving into one of the world's distinctive tongues.

You meant this construction is correct. If we don't put a comma after British, how does it affect the meaning. Please clarify.